CHAPTER TWO

"It takes three days to travel to Li shizu sect, did you bring enough food?"

He sighed.

"Mom, don't worry I'll be fine"

She sighed and handed him a small pouch

"It's a spirit pouch, i know you have yours but take it with you, you never know"

"Okay" he stuffed it in the sleeve of his robe.

They exchanged hugs and watched as he got on the horse and trotted towards the main city.

"Do you think he'll solve this case? It's been unsolved for eighteen years now" Xin ai says in worry.

"He is Jian Qiang, if he can't solve it then no one else can"

He sighed.

"What should we do in the mean time then?"

"I was thinking of introducing you to my fellow sect leader's children"

He felt himself shrink into his skin

"May the universe have mercy on me"

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The blazing hot sun forced the horse to take a break under the trees, he opened a flask full of water and poured some on a discarded watermelon shell.

"Drink up horsey, we have a long journey ahead of us"

He pulled out a wooden sutra from his sleeve and started to read the history of the case he was going to solve.

"Li Xiwang and Wang Zunyan, two males who got together romantically to- wait what?"

He was perplexed, so there were others just like him? He wasn't the only one?

Then he scoffed, of course there were others like him, if not, the term homosexual wouldn't exist now would it?

He noticed that the horse was done drinking water and he gave it a sugar cube to regain energy.

He climbed on it's back and held the straps.

"Yah!"

The horse galloped faster than before on the dirt road, the wind blew on his face cooling him down from the heat of the blazing sun.

The horse stopped at a two way road. He looked left then right, left again and right again.

Deciding to follow his instincts, he took the right.

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Sweat dripped down his naked back, he was tired and his lips were chapped, he didn't know where he was going but he was sure he could smell water.

With a quickened pace, he found a watermelon shell with half water in there, he sighed in relief.

"Thank the heavens" he says before gulping the liquid in one gulp. He sighed and licked his lips wetting them back up.

He heard the distant gallops of a horse.

"If they have water...they might have food as well"

He followed the sound leading him on a dirt road, in the distance he couldn't see anyone making him frown.

"Was i following a ghost this whole time?" He murmured to himself.

Deciding to follow the road, he walked under the scorching sun to end up at a two way road.

"Left? Or right?" He asks looking at the two directions, he sighed and went left.

As he walked down the road he noticed something, the sky was getting cloudy and the wind more cold.

He pulled up the top of his robe and tied it tightly, the trees looked like they had seen all the horrors of the earth, their bark dark and flakey and their branches think and claw like.

"What place is this?"

He heard a hiss and twigs snapping behind him making him run further into the dark forest.

The hissing got louder and louder until a snake emerged from the bushes, he blushed in embarrassment, all this fuss was just for a snake? He grabbed a stick.

"Hey you snake, do you know i almost died from a heart attack because of you? Come here let me beat you to death"

The snake hissed and raised it's head spreading the skin of it's throat like wings, he froze.

"Oh hehe...you're a cobra, my bad then, I'll just...go"

He says walking backwards slowly, seeing his intentions, the snake charged at him making him scream and run away.

"Why did I do to deserve this?" He cried dodging the snake's swipes at his ankles.

A vine tripped him sending him down on the ground with a loud thud, the snake looked like it was smirking victoriously, it opened it's mouth ready to bite and he whimpered.

What he didn't expect was to see a white snake come out of nowhere to attack and kill the snake, he watched in horror as the white snake ate the cobra like it was nothing.

"What in the hell is this place?!"

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Jiang Ji arrived at a small town, Yingxiong was the name. The people looked at him like he didn't belong, which was true because he was wearing a robe made from expensive materials and his horse looked worthy for a diety.

He stopped at an inn and tied the horse to a nearby haystack. He made his way inside.

"Good day sir, are you looking for a room?" The inn owner asked, his eyes were wrinkled and his hair graying at the roots.

"Good day, yes I'm looking for a room, is it available here?"

"Of course sir, i assume you want a big room with a big bed" he says smiling.

"Indeed"

"Very well then, wait at our tea restaurant while we prepare the room for you"

"Thank you"

He sat down and the tea was immediately served, the aroma of the oolong tea wasn't as fresh like back at home, but he didn't mind.

A chill ran up his spin making him stop midway from drinking the tea, something was wrong.

He quickly scanned the room and found nothing suspicious, if not here....then where?

It seems he has another mystery on his hands, he sighed and placed the tea back on the table.

"Your room is ready sir"

He stood up with a smile.

"Thank you, the tea was.....sweet"

His words seemed to have caught the man off guard, so the tea wasn't sweet at all.

"I'm happy you enjoyed it....follow me to your room"

The way up the stairs, Jiang Ji could feel the darkness increasing with each step, what was this place?

"Your room"

He nodded and headed inside, the evening breeze was blowing the white curtains in the room, he could see the large bed and table in the room, along with steaming hot water for tea.

He opened the jar full of tea leaves and he took a whiff, his temples ached making him stagger backwards for a moment.

"This is not tea" he whispered, he looked around and used his sheathed sword to raise the mattress.

"Nails"

He looked at the ceiling and frowned seeing a rope coming from the door to the lantern in the middle of the room.

He pulled a talisman from his sleeve and took seven steps backwards.

"Reveal yourself" he whispered to the golden paper and threw it at the lantern, to his horror, inside the lantern.....was a human head.

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Zixin finally escaped the dark forest but behind him was the white snake from earlier, he turned to face the slithering animal.

"Thank you for saving me back then, i guess this is where our roads part"

The snake looked at him, it's red eyes making him squirm, what did it want? Did it want to eat him instead?

"Can you even understand me?"

To his surprise, the snake nodded.

"Okay, do you want to kill me?"

It shook it's head no, he smiled in relief.

"Do you want to....come with me?"

It nodded.

"Okay...but you have to hide because people might kill you"

He kneeled down and the snake wrapped itself around his arm before quickly moving inside his robe making him squirm and laugh.

"You're cold stop mov- AHH!"

For the second time today, Zixin experienced betrayal from different sides, from both people and animals.

As his vision blurred, he heard a distant voice say,

"You'll be fine when you wake up"